Report on Folau's Breach of Conduct: A Corporate Ethics Analysis

This report examines the ethical issues arising from Folau's breach of conduct, focusing on the social media post by an Australian rugby player. The analysis investigates the violation of the Rugby Australia's code of conduct, the impact on human rights, and the application of ethical theories such as utilitarianism, virtue ethics, and deontology. The report details the ethical concerns, including the damage to religious sentiments, the violation of the code of conduct, and the conflict with human rights. The study assesses the impacts of the ethical considerations, highlighting the damage to the player's and the brand's reputation. It concludes that Folau's actions were unethical, while the Rugby Australia's response was ethical. The report provides a comprehensive overview of the case and its ethical implications, offering insights into corporate ethics and governance.

Running head: REPORT ON FOLAU’S BREACH OF CONDUCT
REPORT
ON
FOLAU’S BREACH OF CONDUCT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................3
Discussion:.................................................................................................................................3
Folau’s Breach of Conduct:...................................................................................................3
Identified ethical issue(s):......................................................................................................4
Theories of ethic(s):...............................................................................................................6
Impact of the ethical consideration(s):...................................................................................7
Mitigation of Ethical issue(s):....................................................................................................8
Conclusion:................................................................................................................................8
Appendix:.................................................................................................................................10

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Abstract:
The aim of this report is to analyze the ethical issues in the professional field,
followed by which a controversial topic has been selected due to which it has been noticed
that the controversy has been raised due to the social media post of a rugby player.
Considering this concern a detail investigation has been conducted based on the theory of
ethics which has helped to identify the key issues present in the case scenario. Followed by
this, the report also consists of a detail elaboration on the mitigation of the possibilities
identified in the case scenario.

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Introduction:
The aim of this paper is to discuss the ethical concerns in order to provide a detail
access to the broad members about the issues present in the corporate industry with the
purpose to made effective decisions for further industrial actions. Followed by this aspect this
study has mainly focused on the case scenario of Folau’s Breach of Conduct in which it has
been noticed that a player was sacked from the Australian Rugby game for violating the code
of conduct of the Australian Rugby league. After investigating the case scenario it has been
noticed that a player Folsu’s has breaches the contract of the game, which has significantly
gone viral over social media post, due to the board members has decided to terminate him
(Walsh and Walsh 2019). In order to support the above study this paper will briefly discussed
about the key concept present in this case scenario related to the ethical concerns present in
this scenario. Along with this it will also include a detail elaboration on the identified ethical
concerns of the case study, ethics in the corporate field, consequences present in this case
scenario as well. Along with the above mentioned aspects it will also discuss the case
scenario by relating it with the ethical theory that are identified from the above investigation.
Lastly, it will conclude by elaborating the summary of the above discussion.
Discussion:
Folau’s Breach of Conduct:
While analysing the case scenario it has been noticed that this nominated issues has
been initiated with a social media post which was posted by an Australian Rugby player.
Followed by this aspect it has been noticed that in that post Folau’s has posted some context
related to the homosexual community as has also mentioned some religious aspect (Esposito
2019). Soon after posting the comment, the Australian Rugby association has decided to
terminate the contract of Folau by mentioning that he has breaches the code of conduct of the

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Rugby Australia which not at all avoidable. After this investigation it has been also noticed
that several research has focused on this topic due which it has been observed that according
to the code of conduct the employs needs to be very careful about the social media activities
and the worker needs to control their personal activities as well (Dale 2019). However, the
discrimination has begun when a question raised about the values and rights of an employ,
followed by which it has mentioned that according to the human rights there is certain laws
and opportunities of an employ due to which there should be a freedom of speech and
religious argument. Whereas, in the nominated filed it has been noticed that the rights of a
human has been overcame the employment contract of an organization. Followed by this
argument it has been also noticed that the board members has argued with the point that
Folau has made this kind of social media post many times before as well, they has also
claimed that the member of boards and the CEO of the Australian Rugby has drawn a
discussion on this topic, however after the discussion Folau has made the mistake (Croucher
2019). Hence, they stated that after the warning the association has taken the action to
terminate Folau.
Identified ethical issue(s):
While investigating the above nominated topic it has been observed that after this
controversial actions made by the Australian Rugby Association, a significant argument has
been developed which is based on the correctness of the decision made by the Rugby
Australia and the effectiveness of the human rights (Foster 2019). Followed by this aspect in
this discussion it will focus on the arguments and the concerns identified in the case scenario.
After a thorough investigation on this concern it has been noticed that according to the
Rugby Code of conduct the social activity of Folau is highly unacceptable since, it has
breaches the values of the RA code of conduct, in which it is mentioned that an employ must
show respect towards everyone around him no matter what the gender and the religious is

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(Pomfret 2016). Followed by this it has also quoted that in no conditions, any sort of
harassment of social, religious as well as sexual will be entertained. Hence, after considering
these regulations present in the clause 1.3 they have stated that they have taken the decision
with the purpose to maintain their code of conduct. However, the legal representative argued
that the comment posted by Folau is not his own and the context was entirely about his social
beliefs (Burgess 2019). Whereas, RA has counter argued by stating that according to their
clause no. 1.7, a player is not allowed to use the social media platform to comment on social
aspects and expectation which may hold the intention to hurt any individual. Along with it
they have also mentioned that before terminating Folau, the CEO and the board members of
Australian Rugby has warned Folau about not to post or comment on such sensitive areas
which may hurt the individual’s sentiment, however after the previous warning Folau has
made the same mistake. Hence, they stated that their action is justified. Where as in order to
contest the aspect highlighted by the RA, the legal representative of Folau has argued with
this statement by stating that folau’s comment was entirely about his own perception an
beliefs which has no intention to hurt any individual. Along with it they have mentioned that
according to the Right of control employees act, the employers has ability to control the
personal activities of the employs, there the question arises related to the values of an
employ. However, this argument was not valid at all in front the justified points by the RA, as
being a Australian Rigby player Folau holds a high profile reputational position, due to which
it is highly unprofessional to post disrespectful comment on such social aspect rather that
supporting and motivating individuals. Hence, followed by this concern it has been noticed
that the termination of Folau has several ethical concerns which are listed below:
 The comment posted by Folau, has significantly damaged the religious sentiments
and the sexual sensitiveness as well.

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 After getting the warnings from RA, Folau has again violated the clause which shows
disrespect towards the RA and the relationship between the employ and the
employers.
 Along with it there is also a conflict present related to the human rights, which stated
that an individual has freedom to speak about the any sort of social concern.
 Apart from the above concerns it has also damaged the intention of the organization
by damaging their reputation as well.
Theories of ethic(s):
Followed by the above discussion and the identified issues, it will now discuss with
respect to the theory of ethics which will provide a detail elaboration of the identified issues
that has accounted in this case scenario. While investigating the nominated case scenario it
has been noticed that there is significant interference of human interest and emotion. Thus,
this discussion will focus on the right and wrong actions as well as based on its impact on
individuals.
With respect to the above statement a thorough investigation has been conducted,
followed by which it has been noticed that based on the prospective of moral philosophy
several ethical conflict has been noticed, in which according to the Utilitarianism theory an
action is judged based on the consequences of the action. Hence, in this field it has been
determined that the post of Folau holds a significant bad impact on people as the post can be
treated as sexual harassment and an action which has damaged that social sentiments as well
(Barrett and Duns 2019). Followed by this after analysing the action based on the
utilitarianism theory it has been noticed that this acton has a bad consequences on the
population as it has directly pointed out sexual preference and religion of individual. Thus,
according to the Utilitarian theory the action of Folau is unethical, whereas the action of RA
is ethical as it has terminated the player and from his responsibilities which a warning to

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others that no such activities will be entertained by RA any more (Chakrabarty and Bass
2015).
Apart from the analysis based on the above theory, Virtue ethics focuses on the
intention of that person rather than focusing on the impact or the consequences (Song and
Kim 2018). Followed by this aspect it has been noticed that Folau has made this sort of
activities before, even after warning him he has made the same mistake thus, it can be stated
that according to the virtue theory the action of Folua it not ethical at all (Lapsley 2016).
However, RA is one of the popular organization present in Australia and it is also noticed that
RA has warned Folua before taking the final action thus, it is considered as an ethical
movement which holds a positive impact to reduce disrespectful activities of people via
social media (Ahrens and Cloutier 2019).
However, similar to the Utilitarian Theory, deontology theory is also focuses on the
impact of an action in order to determine whether it is ethical or not. Followed by this aspect
it has been noticed that the action of Folau holds a negative impact on individual as it has
targeted the sensitive areas people which is not ethical at all according to the deontological
theory. Along with that it has been noticed that the action of RA is ethical as it has
significantly intended to reduce the possibilities of violation from the Rugby employs and
player by terminating Folau.
Impact of the ethical consideration(s):
After analysing the nominated aspect with respect to the theories of ethics due to
which it has been determined that in every aspect the action of Folau is unethical and wrong
as well. Followed by this a detail elaboration on the impact on the identified ethical concerns
are described below:

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As per the analysis based on the theory of ethics, it is mentioned that currently there is
significant use and impact on social media on our daily activities as all most every individual
person has the knowledge about social media platform, thus it has become very easy for
anyone to share any opinion with the people. However, it is not expected from such high
profiled celebrity to comment on sexual preferences with mentioning the name of god as it
affects the impression of the player as well as the brand (Carr 2016). Followed by this it has
been noticed that it has attracted several conflicts related to the human rights and significantly
violated the RA code of conduct which has impacted that the sentiment of people related to
the posts made by Folau and the impression of the organization as well which has suffered
due to the mentioned action of their employ. Thus, as per the rules they have drawn
termination to the contract with folau’s due to which Folau has also lost his deal and
sponsorship with ASICS as well (Hart 2019). Hence, it can be stated that the action of folau
has badly impacted the people, RA and his career as well.
Mitigation of Ethical issue(s):
After the investigation on the ethical concern present in the case scenario it is very
essential to mitigate these aspect with effective mitigation approaches. Followed by this
aspect effective mitigation approaches are listed below:
With the purpose to mitigate these identified issues the RA requires to conduct a
meeting in which they needs to discuss about the identified issues and aware the employ
about the conflicts and consequences as well (Wang, Cheney and Roper 2016). Followed by
which it is required to revise the code of conduct which will be more focused on the
mentioned aspects as well as there should be legal action in case any sort of action happens
with the intention to harm the sentiment of individual (Proctor 2018).

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Conclusion:
Lastly, it can be concluded that this paper has effectively described the aspect of the
nominated case scenario which is based on the controversy of Folau. With the purpose to
discuss this briefly, it has effectively elaborate it by relating with the theory of ethics.
Followed by which several significant ethical conflicts has been determined which is has
impacted the social sentiments and the sexual preferences of an employ. Considering this
aspect it has also provided a detail elaboration on the mitigation approached by applying
which the identified ethical conflict can be mitigated. Hence, it can be stated that this paper
has thoroughly investigated the issues raised in the Folau’s Breach of Conduct with all the
possible aspects.

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Appendix:

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